NCAA Basketball Tournament

For Seth Curry, Big South Is Not Enough

Chas Rich — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:33:00 EST

His name is Curry. Seth Curry.

He may have been a lightly recruited shooting guard with NBA bloodlines, but between the emergence of older brother Stephen Curry last year and averaging 20.2 points as a freshman, Seth Curry sees opportunities. Specifically being able to transfer out of the Big South conference and being a Flame at Liberty.

He's not looking to go to a Division II school or something like that. No, he knows his name now has some cache. He's shown that he has some game. So the younger Curry is taking it somewhere else.

"This is a difficult decision that I have reached after close consultation with my family and others close to me," he said in a statement released through the school. He said the decision "is based on my desire to develop as an athlete to the fullest of my potential and take advantage of new opportunities that may be available to me in a higher rated conference."

It is not the school, it is where they play. A one-bid joint with limited exposure and competition. Unlike his brother who only started putting his skills on the big stage late as a sophomore, Seth has been doing it right away as a freshman. That gives him the opportunity to go to plenty of other places.

For Seth Curry, Big South Is Not Enough originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:33:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barack-O-Brackets Forgot About Lawson

Jay Mariotti — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:30:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big South, South Region

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Risking criticism that he acts more like a wannabe sports-talk caller than a fix-the-nation savior, President Obama -- Barry from Bethesda? -- filled out a March Madness bracket this week. Like the rest of us, he made a mad mess of the thing, reassessing and scratching out names. One of his original decisions, for instance, involved North Carolina losing to Pitt in the Final Four and Louisville winning the national championship.

But then, somehow, Obama went with a repeat hunch. Even though Carolina blew it for him last year, losing to Kansas in the semifinals, he's picking the Tar Heels again. "Now, for the Tar Heels who are watching, I picked you all last year -- you let me down," Obama said as he finished his selections for ESPN.com. "This year, don't embarrass me in front of the nation, all right? I'm counting on you. I still got those sneakers you guys gave me."

Last April, Obama played a pickup game with the Carolina team in Chapel Hill. Tyler Hansbrough let him slip by for an uncontested layup, which Obama missed, and it was pretty much a rough day for the future commander-in-chief. "Those guys move very fast,'' he raved at the time. In particular, the fastest player was point guard Ty Lawson, who has matured over the last year to become the ACC Player of the Year and arguably the most important player of March. Maybe Obama missed this part of the Carolina equation as he was proposing his $3.6 trillion budget. But Lawson, the head of the monster, has an injured right big toe.

And he's probably not going to play Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament, which means we're going on two weeks since he jammed the toe while running into a basket support during a March 6 practice. This is a problem, Mr. President, and quite possibly a lingering crisis that mars Carolina's shot at a championship in a season the Heels once were expected to dominate. Obama should have consulted with coach Roy Williams, a gloom-and-doom artist who didn't try to hide the in-house concern Wednesday.

"There is a huge, huge probability that Ty will not play,'' Williams said of the opener against Radford, champion of the Big South Conference. "He was not able to do the things that I wanted him to do in practice. So some things would have to change drastically before I would change my mind on that. If that's what y'all wanted to know, we can probably leave now.''

Not a chance. What exactly is Lawson doing in practice, if anything? "He hasn't done anything live,'' Williams said. "I mean, he went through the dummy stuff. And the shooting stuff. But he hasn't done anything live where you're playing against anybody.''

NCAA Tournament Action

Michigan's Manny Harris (3) takes a shot during practice for the men's NCAA college basketball tournament in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, March 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Morgan State's Rogers Barnes (21) claps during practice for the men's NCAA college basketball tournament in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, March 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman, right, looks on as Morgan State's Rodney Stokes (42) take a shot during practice for the men's NCAA college basketball tournament in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, March 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Morgan State's Marquise Kately looks to take a shot during practice for the men's NCAA college basketball tournament in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, March 18, 2009. Morgan State plays Oklahoma in the first round. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Gonzaga forward Josh Heytvelt, right, signs autographs for young fans during practice at the men's NCAA college basketball tournament in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, March 18, 2009. Gonzaga plays Akron on Thursday.(AP Photo/Don Ryan)

Gonzaga forward Josh Heytvelt shoots during practice for the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, March 18, 2009. Gonzaga plays Akron on Thursday.(AP Photo/Don Ryan)

Gonzaga guard Matt Bouldin eyes the basket during practice at the men's NCAA college basketball tournament in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, March 18, 2009. Gonzaga plays Akron on Thursday.(AP Photo/Don Ryan)

North Carolina's Ty Lawson (5) talks with coach Roy Williams during the Tar Heels' practice on Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Tar Heels will face Radford tomorrow in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

North Carolina's Ty Lawson (5) shoots during the Tar Heels' practice on Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Tar Heels will face Radford tomorrow in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

North Carolina's Ty Lawson (5) and coach Roy Williams smile as they watch the Tar Heels' practice on Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Tar Heels will face Radford tomorrow in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

Wasn't the toe supposed to be healing by now? "Before the Duke game a week and a half ago, he says, 'Coach, I'm a lot better, I can go.' So I checked with the doctors and they said, 'Yeah, the swelling is gone, blah, blah, blah,' '' Wiliams said. "So we went out and our trainer watched him move around before the Duke game. He played, and he wasn't very bad. But you know, the next day, the swelling just surprised everybody. And the extent of the swelling surprised everybody. So it took a certain number of days to get the swelling down. Then the soreness is still there, the pain is still there. So I think it has surprised everybody so far.''

On Tuesday, Williams said he was more discouraged than at any point since the injury occurred. Is he at least slightly more encouraged now? "No,'' he said.

Don't dismiss this as a vintage boo-hoo act by Roy, either. The players, too, are anxious about their floor leader. "He's not the Ty that we've all seen,'' said senior point guard Bobby Frasor, who has no reason to lie as the player who will inherit much of Lawson's playing time. "That's just being honest.''

"You can see it as well," Wayne Ellington said. "Without Ty out there, there's a whole different look to our team. We play a lot more halfcourt. We're not getting up and down as much."

Not to draw too dramatic a parallel, but this is vaguely like asking Big Brown to complete the Triple Crown on a cracked front hoof. That's how vital Lawson is to the Carolina machine. When he's healthy and leading the fast break, this team is breathtaking to watch, with his penetration creating open shots for three-point specialists Ellington and Danny Green. Without him, the perimeter shots are contested, and Carolina is half a team. Sure, he'll eventually play again, probably on Saturday in the second round inside an ancient arena about 75 minutes from campus. But how well will he play? And will his status continue to be so uncertain that it alters the team's chemistry, preparation and focus? When he spoke to a media mob Wednesday, Lawson wore a soft brace on a heavily taped right foot and was aided by a steel plate in his shoe. He's downing painkillers, using special anesthetic creams, icing the toe and having it massaged.

"It's painful when I'm cutting back and forth,'' Lawson said. "When I'm running straight, it's not as bad, and I can deal with it. But cutting back and forth, that's when the most pain comes. Last week, when we were in the ACC tournament, I was just thinking, 'When is this going to get better?' It's been like two weeks, and it's still kind of tough to run on. It's just draining to keep feeling like I'm doing all this stuff, getting up early in the morning for pool workouts and all this, and it's still not getting better."

I believe him. Obama should, too. Think I'm a Chicken Little in a state where there's a Chick-fil-A every two blocks? Consider how out of sorts the Heels looked without him in the ACC tournament, where Florida State bounced them and forced them to the South Region, where they're the most vulnerable of the No. 1 seeds. "People say, 'It's just his toe,' but it's extremely important," Williams said. "Because to play basketball, you have to be able to run, you have to be able to change directions, you have to be able to be able to be explosive, you have to be able to jump -- and you can't do all of those from your heel. I mean, with Ty, we average 91(points) a game. And (at the ACC tournament), we averaged 74. We didn't get as many easy baskets on the break with his ability to push the ball, his ability to penetrate and draw people to him and pitch.''

EA Sports Simulation

In the Final Four, North Carolina couldn't find a way to slow down high-flying Pittsburgh, losing 86-80 in an EA Sports simulation.

EA Sports

Despite some tough defense by Memphis, Louisville reached the NCAA Tournament final with a 75-68 victory.

EA Sports

Louisville and Pittsburgh put on a quite a show in the final game of the season.

EA Sports

The Cardinals won the NCAA title with a 76-70 victory over the Panthers.

EA Sports

Louisville claimed its third NCAA title in school history, and its first since 1986.

EA Sports

The diehard Carolina folks -- you know, the good ol' boys who show up in Greensboro the night before for cigar-and-whiskey binging -- think Lawson should have the toe injected with a numbing local anesthetic, as he did before the March 8 victory over Duke that clinched the ACC regular-season title. Williams won't have it. "I told him I didn't want him doing that again. I'm not going to do that to a youngster,'' he said. "Let's make sure we understand one thing: I'm not criticizing anybody. But I'm old-fashioned. I'm crazy, whatever. I don't see that happening. I had to take a shot Dec. 7 in 2005 to coach the St. Louis game that night, and it was the same thing. They gave me a shot in my right cheek at 2 p.m. and my left cheek at 7 p.m., and I coached the game -- and it was great.''

He managed a laugh, as did some of Lawson's teammates. "I always joke with Ty about it: 'Man, there's nothing wrong with you. You've got a jammed toe,' " Ellington said. But when Ellington's shooting percentage slumps without Lawson, try to detect any smiles.

If Carolina basketball is religion, then Ty Lawson's toe is the anti-Christ. About the only people happy about it in these parts are Duke fans, whose team also was placed in Greensboro in what smacks as a pretty cool prank. Can these two sets of fans tolerate each other for three days without parking-lot smackdowns? "I hope our fans will give them a little trash talk,'' Ellington said.

"I'm not really sure our fans and their fans are really on the same page all the time,'' Hansbrough said. "So there may be some trash talk there.''

The Heels won't be losing to Radford, despite the hulking presence of 6-foot-11, 260-pound Artsiom Parakhouski, a.k.a. the Beast of Belarus. "We didn't know they called him the Beast of Belarus, but we do know he's a good inside player,'' said Hansbrough, who will have to deal with him. "We'll have to be prepared for him.'' If, by some apocalyptic chance, Carolina became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament, Arby's would give away free roast-beef sandwiches to the national masses Monday.

"We're not going to be the No. 1 seed that loses,'' Elllington said. "But if Arby's wants to give out free sandwiches anyway, I might go get one.''

All in all, they'd rather have a healthy point guard. Obama is powerful, but no presidential order can heal a bad big toe. I sense Barack-O-Brackets is going to be wrong on Carolina.

Again.

Barack-O-Brackets Forgot About Lawson originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seed-By-Conference Analysis: Committee Loves the Big East and ACC

Matt Snyder — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: A-10, ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, America East, A-Sun, Big South, BSC, BWC, CAA, C-USA, Great West, Horizon League, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, MVC, MWC, NEC, OVC, Pac-10, Patriot League, SEC, SoCon, Southland, SWAC, Sun Belt, The Summit, WCC, WAC, Big Sky, Big West, Midwest Region, West Region, South Region, East Region

Among the big story lines from Sunday's filling out of the NCAA basketball tournament field, discussions of conferences who are "overrated" and "underrated" dominated the discussion. Specifically, fans of so-called mid-major teams cried foul, and the masses proclaimed the selection committee was biased in favor of the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences.

The biggest issue I have with this instant "analysis" is that it's not analysis at all. Saying the NCAA thought the Big Ten was on-level with the ACC and Big East simply because they were allotted the same number of teams is -- with apologies to Bob Knight -- just plain stupid.

You see, it's easy to just look at the number of bids and act like that's how the NCAA views individual conferences. It's simple, and people like simple. Thus, it's the approach simpletons take, because they aren't capable of more analytical thought. Dive deeper, though. Do you really think the committee thought the Big Ten was on-level with the Big East when the Big East got three number one seeds and the Big Ten only received one Sweet 16 seed? Does that really, honestly sound even to you?

So here we are, with your guide on judging how the selection committee seriously judged conference strength. I went through every game and just picked the favored seed to win. Meaning eight beats nine, but then loses to one. And so on. We'll call the figure the "expected record," and this will give us a gauge on how strong the selection committee truly felt a conference was.

Big East

Number of teams: 7
Seeds: 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 6, 6
Expected record: 20-6 (including three Final Four teams and one National Champion
Comments: See, this is far and away the strongest conference according to the committee. Look at those seeds. The seventh entrant from the league was awarded a six-seed. In fact, this has to be the best conference of all-time in terms of what they received from the committee -- as long as you don't get hung up on the number of bids. Their average seed is a three.

ACC

Number of teams: 7
Seeds: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 7, 10
Expected record: 13-7
Comments: Another conference that impressed the NCAA enough to get lots of favorable seeds. An interesting discrepancy -- which Seth Davis pointed out on the Selection Show -- is seeing Maryland receive a 10-seed while Wisconsin garnered a 12. How about Boston College landing a seven-seed despite an RPI of 60? These are just two illustrations of how highly the committee favored the ACC to other conferences (aside from the Big East, of course).

Big 12

Number of teams: 6
Seeds: 2, 3, 3, 7, 8, 9
Expected record: 9-6
Comments: They received less teams than the Big Ten and equal to the Pac-10, but got much better bang for their buck with three Sweet 16 seeds and an Elite Eight.

Big Ten

Number of teams: 7
Seeds: 2, 5, 5, 8, 10, 10, 12
Expected record: 6-7
Comments: Seriously? This is an overrated conference? They finished 2nd in conference RPI, and only got one Sweet 16 seed. Three of their seeds are of the one-and-done variety. Knowing this, can you seriously tell me the committee had bias toward the conference? The strength of the conference this year was the depth, but there was an admitted lack of elite teams. The seedings accurately reflected this. By the way -- Minnesota (42), Michigan (44), and Wisconsin (45) were all a bit better than Maryland (55) in the RPI. They were all seeded equal to or worse than the Terrapins. If Penn State made the tourney, the Big Ten haters would have a case. Instead, they don't.

Pac-10

Number of teams: 6
Seeds: 4, 6, 6, 7, 10, 12
Expected record: 5-6
Comments: Arizona (62 RPI) is the one team in the whole tourney that seems egregiously invited. Other than that, though, the conference didn't get a ton of credit. Only one Sweet 16 seed, and a four at that.

Mountain West

Number of teams: 2
Seeds: 5, 8
Expected record: 2-2
Comments: Well, they liked the teams they allowed in the tourney. Obviously, it's tough to imagine San Diego State sporting a 34 RPI in a "major" conference and not making the Dance. I'm actually very surprised they gave BYU an eight and then dropped everyone else off the board. It's not like BYU and Utah were playing at such a different level than New Mexico, SDSU, and UNLV.

Atlantic 10

Number of teams: 3
Seeds: 4, 11, 11
Expected record: 2-3
Comments: Again, a head-scratcher. Was Xavier really seven whole seeds better than Dayton?

SEC

Number of teams: 3
Seeds: 8, 9, 13
Expected record: 1-3
Comments: Simply put: The committee believes the SEC sucks this year. In fact, had Butler won the Horizon League tourney, it's conceivable to think they would have flipped seeds with LSU and the SEC would have come away with zero expected wins. If you want to proclaim power conference bias, you better look elsewhere.

Everyone Else

There are only six wins left from teams not in the above eight conferences. Memphis, as a two-seed, is expected to win three games before bowing out. Gonzaga, a four, is slated to take two. The lone remaining win? Well, someone has to win the play-in game. Every other team in the field, 21 of them from non-"power" conferences, has a worse seed than their first-round foe.

And yes, though I'm a Big Ten fan, it's really easy for me to admit St. Mary's got jobbed. We're talking about a 48 RPI from a team who was missing their best player for a decent chunk of the season. He's healthy enough to play now, so they should have included them in the field. This is the type of error (Mary's and/or SDSU vs. 'Zona and/or Maryland) that makes people believe the committee is biased.

Final Thought

This is how you should judge conference performance in the tournament. Don't be a simpleton. To illustrate the point, here's an example: If the Big East goes 14-7 and the Big Ten goes 10-7, I'm guessing there will be a bunch of people hanging their hats on the superior performance by the Big East. In actuality, as outlined above, the Big Ten would be exceeding expectations with a 10-7 record. Thus, they were underrated. The Big East would have fallen short of the lofty expectations, which means they were overrated.

We'll see how everything shakes out, but just remember -- it's not all about the number of teams per conference, and it's not necessarily about the won-loss record when judging if the committee was biased or "overrated" someone. It's much more complicated than that.

Seed-By-Conference Analysis: Committee Loves the Big East and ACC originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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